Before you can create a profitable business, make sure your business idea is something that you feel excited and passionate about. If it’s something you feel ambivalent about, you may want to go back to the drawing board. If you’re having trouble coming up with a business idea, the video below contains tips for coming up with a business idea that’s fun and realistic for you

Make a list of what you are passionate about. Anything goes. For example animal rights, writing, sculpting, social media marketing, etc. Whatever comes to your mind, write it down. You never know… you could convert your passion into a profitable business.

Write down all your skills, talents, training, profession, and interests. This is a great way to discover your perfect business which you can base on a specific skill, talent, or training you have.

Think about the different things that people ask you help with. For example, perhaps it’s help with organizing a party, or how to do your taxes, etc. What people ask you for help with is your unique gift and talent that you can create a business around. For example, if people come to you for help with organizing a party, the business that makes the most sense for you is Party Organizer or Events Planner.

Ask your friends or family members what they think you are good at. This is a great way to get business ideas!

Writing down your passions, skills, talents, training, profession, and interests is a great way of getting in touch with who you are.

Do you wish your Facebook engagement was such that more people would interact with your posts and livestreams?

With the advent of new Facebook algorithms that makes it harder to get your content seen, you need innovative ways to get your posts seen by as many of your Facebook fans and followers as possible.

The more likes, comments, and shares you have on your page or Facebook group posts, the more likely a larger number of your Facebook business page fans, followers, and group members will see your content.

In this article, you’ll discover ways to increase Facebook engagement on your business page posts, livestreams. The same principles can also be applied to drive engagement within your Facebook groups.

Create content that resonates with your ideal customers/clients and compels them to comment, like and share. Your content needs to be unique, thought provoking, and entertaining. It should be the type of content that makes a person feel good to share to their friends.

Leverage holidays and trending topics to create content that drives engagement. Here’s an example of a Facebook post that leveraged this year’s holiday season to highlight the mission to find a Black Santa hidden at Macy’s. Notice the number of comments, likes, and shares. Not only is this video content which Facebook favors. It also highlights how rare it is to have an African American Santa. Plus this content is timely because it was posted a few days before Christmas,

2. Post Different Types of Content

To increase the likelihood of your content getting noticed share different types of content. For instance, use a mix of video, written posts with an image, short posts, long posts, best practices posts, inspiration posts, quotes, etc. Test different types of posts and see which ones get the most engagement. Rinse and repeat the posts that received the highest engagement levels.

3. Experiment Posting at Different Times

Schedule your Facebook business page and Facebook group posts at different times of the day and night to see when most of the engagement occurs. Scheduling posts early AM for example will enable you to capture an international audience. If your target market is moms for example, try posting in the mornings, afternoons, evenings, and late night and see when moms engagement. To get your posts viewed by a wider audience, schedule your posts around a time when most of your ideal audience is on Facebook.

4. Drive Facebook Engagement By Posting Frequently

The more you post a variety of content, the greater the likelihood that Facebook will show your content to a larger number of your fans and followers. Try posting as many as 3 to 5 posts in your business page. Engagement daily in your Facebook group if you have one. Make sure that the content inspires your readers. Try not to inundate your ideal customers or clients with too much content.

5. Increase Your Facebook Engagement By Frequently Livestreaming

Since Facebook favors video, livestream a minimum of 2 to 3 times per week in your Facebook business page. Starting out you will get crickets or a handful of viewers. Even with 6 views you can still make sales. All it takes is 2 people to buy. To increase views, consider creating an event a few days ahead of your scheduled livestream. Email your subscribers to create excitement. You can also share your Facebook livestreams on other social media accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest by clicking thetimestamp of your Facebook post to get the permalink. Then use a URL shortener (like Bitly) to create a link that you can share via Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc,

Facebook Engagement Baiting

In the Facebook livestream video below , I talk about Facebook clamping down on Facebook engagement baiting besides covering the 5 tips for improving Facebook engagement and reach that’s covered in this blog post.

Visibility & Profitability

If you are ready to get additional strategies to develop brand awareness, get your content visible, sell effectively via social media and increase your profitability, I’m super excited about offering my one-on-one Visibility & Profitability Strategy Session. I hope you’ll come and join me in a business planning bash. For more information, click here.

Bonus Tip

Share your Facebook business page posts via other social media platforms to drive engagement. Be sure to have a call to action on every Facebook post. For example, you can encourage people to share if they found the content helpful. Invite them to join your Facebook group if you have one. Ask for your reader’s feedback. You can also ask questions to drive engagement.

Boost Your Business Virtual Summit

If you are interested in the Boost Your Business Virtual Summit we are launching in 2018, be sure to like our Facebook Boost Your Business Page and get on our waitlist. We will be covering strategies that you can use to increase your social media engagement, acquire new leads, make sales, and grow your business.

What would it mean to your life or business if you could earn $1K to $2K extra or more per month?

It would transform your world, right?

Imagine all the things that you could do with that money.

Pay down debt

Create a college fund for your child

Create an emergency fund

Have extra cash to invest into your business

All of this could become your reality via creating a simple yet profitable product. You don’t have to own a formal business to make this a reality.

Examples of simple and profitable products include: e-courses, a necklace with a simple design, a yoga mini-series with 2 videos, a social media marketing workbook, a PDF with step by step instructions to use a specific tool, etc. You can pretty much turn any skill you have as a simple and profitable product.

Here are 5 simple strategies you can immediately implement to create your very simple and profitable product within 30 days.

Whether you are a stay at home mom or a working mom, as busy as you are, you can free up 5 to 10 hours per week to focus on creating your simple product and promoting it. That means working on it during your lunch break, finding 1 to 2 hours in the evening after everyone is in bed to work on your product.

Strategy#2: Have Conversations With Your Ideal Customers/Clients

You want to have conversations with your ideal customers to learn exactly what they are struggling with as it relates to the product you have in mind to create. if you create a product that provides your ideal customers a “quick win” in terms of a transformation they experience, you are guaranteed to make sales!

Strategy#3: Use The Information You Gathered Via Speaking With Your Prospective Customers

Now that you gleaned insights via speaking with your ideal customers, you can use that information to create your simple product which could be a necklace, a low cost gift basket, a workbook, a 2-video course, etc.

Strategy#4:Use As Many Free Tools As Possible To Create Your Simple Product

Whether you plan to create a physical or digital product, you need some essential tools to get started. You can get most of these tools for free, or at a low price. They include:

Wix or WordPress for your website

Google Word, Excel, and Powerpoint for your workbooks

Zoom for virtual workshops

MailChimp for an email service provider to send automated emails

Canva or PicMonkey to create simple graphics

PayPal to accept payments

Strategy#5:Create Beta Version of Your Simple Product

Before you fully launch your very simple and profitable product, test it out with handful of customers. After they use your product, get there feedback which you can use to modify your product.

Via implementing these strategies, within 30 days you’ll have a simple product that you can now easily sell. The video below provides additional details on the five key strategies you need to incorporate to build your simple and profitable product.

Step 3: Customize Your Products/Services

Take the market research that you did in step 2 and use the information to create products and services that will resonate with your ideal customers/clients, and get them excited about buying from you. This will increase the likelihood of your getting sales, and make you stand out from the competition. If you are engaged in actual conversations with your ideal customers/clients from connecting with them via social media, the information you glean is pure gold, as you are getting actual feedback about the products/services you are creating. You can tweak these products and services according to the feedback you get. This is how you will increase the likelihood of your ideal customers purchasing from you.

Now that you have a clear idea of the products or services you wish to offer, test them out in the market by offering a beta or test version. Limit the beta version to a few customers. Interact with your customers via Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangout, and get as much feedback as possible from them about their experiences with your beta-product. Did they like your product/service? Did your product/service solve their problem, for example, were your earrings the perfect match for their outfit, or did your guide to create Facebook ads help them make sales.

Now you’re ready to go to market full force.

Step 4: Create a Rock Solid Digital Marketing Plan

Whether you are selling products or services, make sure you have a rock solid digital marketing plan. Besides traditional marketing, which includes ad space in print media, television, direct mail, and telephone, use digital marketing to get yourself and your brand in front of your target customers/clients.

Digital Marketing: This includes every aspect of online marketing to connect with current and future customers/clients: Google searches, social media, email marketing, and websites. Whether your business is online or offline, most likely you will end up using all 4 methods to market your products and services. The majority of your efforts will focus on social media and email marketing.

The purpose of digital marketing is to attract traffic to your websites, sales landing pages, and social media so that your ideal customers/clients will connect with you and your business. You want your ideal customers/clients to get to know you and your business. The best way to do this is to provide content that helps your ideal customers/clients to solve a problem, that’s entertaining, and that provides food for thought and quick tips. Once they get to know and trust you, they will most likely be inclined to opt-in to your free content, view and like your product pins, take advantage of your discount coupons, and ultimately purchase from you.

If you are in the B2B or business to business space, leverage LinkedIn to build relationships with your prospective clients. Use LinkedIn Publishing to share relevant content. Send your leads valuable information related to their business challenges. Use Sales Navigator to keep up with the latest news or trends about your target companies and the relevant leads you saved. If any of your ideal customers are going to trade shows or conferences, reach out to them in advance and ask for a meeting.

You want to consistently provide relevant and valuable free content in the social media platforms your ideal customers/clients hang out in. This will lead to brand recognition, establish trust, and position you as the go-to expert.

Step 5: Create a Rock Solid Sales and Promotion Strategy

Use your rock solid reputation that you established in social media, including LinkedIn, to promote your products/services. Post your offers in your Facebook business pages, Facebook groups, Twitter, and via LinkedIn updates. Pin images related to your products and services and link to your sales page. Add images in your Instagram account, introduce your product, and share your link. Also promote your products via the other relevant social media platforms.

Social Media Ads: Use Facebook ads as the primary vehicle to promote your products and services. Facebook ads have features that allow you to target your ads toward the right demographic profile of your ideal customers. You can even target the ads toward specific interests, influencers your ideal customers follow, magazines your ideal customer reads, pages your ideal customers like, percentage of video view, and more.

If your ideal customers/clients hang out in Pinterest, Twitter, and are in LinkedIn, you can also use ads in these platforms to promote your products/services.

Email Marketing: Email your subscribers at least once per week if you are not in the middle of promoting your products and services.

A month prior to promoting your products and services, create a sense of anticipation by announcing your upcoming product release. If this is your first product, invite your subscribers to be beta-testers in exchange for receiving a discount. Email content related to your products and services. Share stories about how you got started creating your products and services. Share case studies and testimonials from people who used your products and services and obtained the results they were seeking.

Transitioning From a Job to Running Your Business: For those of you who are planning to build a business while working full-time, after you build your immensely successful business, begin creating your transition plan for seamlessly moving from your full-time job into your very own business without losing money.

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to comment and provide your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

If you are currently working full-time and would like to build your very own business, I have created the perfect PDF guide for you: “Start Your Business: A Step By Step Guide To Building The Business You Love and Finally Quitting Your 9 to 5.” For more information, click the image below

And if you need help to build your business, take advantage of my Sales Growth Program using 4 key principles for magnifying your sales by 3 to 10X through doubling your leads, customers, profit market, and repeat sales. For more information, click here.

]]>http://aspiringmompreneur.com/simple-profitable-product/feed/98 Super Easy Ways To Work at Home & Be With Your Babyhttp://aspiringmompreneur.com/8-super-easy-ways-to-work-at-home-be-with-your-baby/
http://aspiringmompreneur.com/8-super-easy-ways-to-work-at-home-be-with-your-baby/#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 04:52:46 +0000http://aspiringmompreneur.com/?p=4001

I believe that if possible, the best gift you can give your baby is to work at home. You could either work remotely for an employer or run your home business.

After my baby girl was born in July 2012, I knew that there was no way I was going to work outside the home. I was determined to figure out a way to work successfully from home.

Here’s what I learned from my personal experience working from home for 5 years.

Non-Phone Related Jobs Are Best For New Moms: The types of work at home jobs that are ideal for new moms are administrative assistant jobs, research, writing, editing, data entry, bookkeeping. Pretty much anything non-phone related involving using your laptop.

A job that involves frequent conference calls with your team members is not going to work if you do not have a relative or babysitter to watch your baby while you go to a quiet space to take the conference call.

Neither direct sales over the phone, nor customer service jobs work well for moms with babies or toddlers

Specialized Skills or Hobbies Are Great For Converting To A Home Business: If you have a specialized skill or professional, you can turn that into a home business and set a work schedule on your terms. This means that you can spend as much quality time as possible with your baby during the day and get most of your work done when your baby sleeps for extended time periods.

You can also create a home business around a special creative talent you possess, or a hobby. For example you could use your sewing skills to alter clothes that you purchase from thrift stores and sell online. Just like Nasty Gal, the online fashion boutique that Sophia Amouruso founded 10 years ago in her tiny San Francisco apartment.

The Top 3 Sources For Finding Mom-Friendly Work at Home Jobs: Websites like hiremymom.com, flexjobs.com and Virtual Vocations are excellent resources that you can use to find mom-friendly work at home jobs across a variety of skills.

Strategies Moms Can Use To Make The Most of Her Time With Baby & The Most of Her Time Working

Starting out working from home with a brand new baby, I lost a couple of jobs because they involved being on the phone. In addition, I found myself taking phone calls in my clothes closet, or the bathroom because my baby was either making loud happy sounds, or on the verge of crying. I had to find creative ways to get off the phone quickly so that I could tend to my crying baby.

When I was on a client call, I often muted the phone while I was in the same room tending to my baby. Then I would quickly run to another room to continue the conversation if my baby was too loud. I always kept an eye on my baby. Video monitors come in very useful for this.

Being on client calls plus tending to my baby was exhausting so I only focused on getting work where I could communicate to clients via messenger or emails, and the occasional phone calls.

Use the Pomodoro Method of alternating between working for 30 minutes and spending 30 minutes with your child. When you’re working, put your baby in a swing with a mobile on top to keep her/him mesmerized. You can also lay your baby underneath a gym with dangling toys, or in a play pen with toys to keep baby occupied for extended time periods. Mix and match different toys and stimuli to prevent baby boredom.

I found that during the day, the maximum number of productive hours I could realistically work is 2 hours. Working in increments of 15 to 30 minutes enables you to spend as much quality time as possible with your baby plus get some work done.

Work while baby naps: When your baby takes two to three 30 minutes to an hour naps, use that time to work. If you are extra tired because of staying up late with the baby, take a 30-minute nap while baby sleeps.

Rely on Relatives or Paid Babysitters When You Must

There are times when you are going to need several hours of focused time to complete projects that your clients want a quick turn around on. Arrange for on call babysitters, friends, or family members to watch your baby while you work on urgent projects.

Even without deadlines, getting 2 to 4 hours of focused time to work on projects without resorting to screen time for your baby or toddler is a big challenge. From time to time you can use the barter system. Network with other work at home moms or stay at home moms where for one day of the week they can drop off their babies with you for 2 to 4 hours of alone time in exchange for your doing the same with your baby.

Location Matters

I have found that early in the morning while baby sleeps, and evenings when a spouse or friend can help, are the best times to get work done. If you are a night owl like me, you will find yourself working well past midnight.

When my 5-year-old was a baby, whenever she napped I used that time to work.

I live in an apartment so I found the living room to be the most productive location, as you can watch your baby play on the floor, in their swing set, or in their playpen while you work.

Working at home with a baby is extremely challenging because you are conflicted between spending quality time with your precious angel and your need to focus on doing an excellent job so that you can keep a client or employer happy.

The good news is that it’s possible to have the best of both worlds – spending extra quality time with your baby plus working from home. You need an extremely organized system to pull it off. You also need an extremely flexible schedule plus help from friends, relatives, and babysitters for you to complete critical work projects, take phone calls, or be on team conference calls.

If you are a work at home mom what system do you use to stay on top of it all?

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to comment and provide your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

If you are currently working full-time and would like to build your very own business, I have created the perfect PDF guide for you: “Start Your Business: A Step By Step Guide To Building The Business You Love and Finally Quitting Your 9 to 5.” For more information, click the image below

In business school we used that imagery to refer to a situation where you are in a crowded market. The technique to stand out in that situation is to focus on a niche market where you provide much needed services that very few entrepreneurs are offering.

If you are a current mompreneur, there’s a 99% chance that you are actively marketing in Facebook. That being the case, I am sure you have seen hundreds of entrepreneurs in Facebook livestreaming, sending out Facebook ads, posting in the various Facebook groups, and business pages. There’s so much going on that you may be tempted to jump off the Facebook merry go round. But you don’t because chances are your ideal customers are in Facebook. So how do you engage with them.

Become a big fish in a little pond.

Even if you are a mom who does not have your home-business yet, you can get a head start by creating a business account and showing up regularly in your Facebook business page and/or group and provide helpful tips and advice related to your business that will help your ideal customers.

There are two ways you can be the big fish in the little pond

Number 1: Focus on providing services in an area that’s in your Zone of Genius that no one or very few people are providing. Examples include: simple yoga techniques for the online entrepreneurs, using breathing techniques to deliver engaging Livestreams, tools for identifying your zone of genius and standing out from the crow

Number 2: Focus on serving a specialized niche. Instead of a wide market. For example, instead of having moms who want to work from home as your target market, focus on a smaller niche – moms with babies and toddlers who want to start a home business

When you focus on a specialized area or a specific niche, then it’s less challenging to stand out among the other entrepreneurs in Facebook.

Although you now have a narrower focus, there’s still more work to do. If you are building or growing your mompreneur business organically, there are 3 essential strategies you need to follow:

Consistently produce engaging Facebook livestreaming videos

Create an engaging Facebook community via Facebook groups

Participate in the Facebook groups where your ideal clients tend to hang out in

“Follow your passion. Get a vision. Take action. Build your business. Live the life you want!”

Irene Krasnoff, Aspiring Mompreneur

Summer is here! Kids are out of school. You love your kids and want to spend quality time with them. At the same time you have a big responsibility: running your business!

So how are you going to do that?

Your kids do not have to suffer. Neither does your business.

What’s the easiest thing to do? Stick your kids in front of a TV or tablet for 8 hours while you work on your business. Not a good idea!

There’s all kinds of opportunities fun for you and your kids to have fun during the summer.

Running Your Business #1: Make Memories

Just because you have a big responsibility running your business, does not mean you have to spend the entire summer hearing your kids whine, “I am bored. There’s nothing to do!!!”

Take the time to make memories. Soon they will become teenagers with their laundry list of summer activities that for the most part will not include you. So make time to do fun activities with your kids. Get out of the home and go to a water park for example. You could even start a garden in your back yard, or participate with your kids in your local community garden.

As you engage in doing fun things with your children, be sure to preserve your memories by taking tons of pictures, even taking goofy selfies.

Running Your Business #2: Split Your Time Evenly

To spend quality time with your kids, you need to structure your day in such a way that it’s evenly divided between work and your kids. Set aside designated hours to spend with your kids either doing a variety of activities from home like games or arts and crafts, or doing things outside the home like bowling, miniature golf, swimming, the movies etc.

You are also going to designate a block of 3 to 4 hours to focus on working on your business. Be sure to clearly communicate your work hours to your family. Make sure that your kids and your spouse know that they are not to interrupt you during your work hours unless there’s a life threatening emergency.

Running Your Business #3 Other Recommendations

I have prepared a checklist outlining 5 Tips that will ensure that summer with your kids plus running your business goes smoothly. Click here to access your checklist.

Finally, remember your kids do not have stick your kids in front of the television in order to work productively on your business.

What other tips do you have for keeping the kids occupied while you work on your business? Please comment below and share your recommendations.

Receive vital information to help you achieve massive success running your home business!

Start a Profitable Home Business

Tired of the 9 to 5 world? Tired of your hard work not being appreciated? Most important of all tired of hustling 50 to 60 hours per week, only to be depressed over how little extra money you have left over after you pay bills.

What if I told you there is an alternative……

That alternative is start your profitable home business. As an overwhelmed mom, you might be asking how?

How to Make Money From Home: You can totally run your very own profitable home business, maintain the status of your kids being your #1 priority, earn the income you desire, and work the exact schedule that makes sense. You can even work from home part-time and make your current full time salary.

Profitable home business could become your reality

With the right business idea that solves a burning pain point, a problem, an issue, a desire that your ideal customer has, you can run a hugely successful business, pay bills, have extra money, create retirement funds, college funds, and have all kinds of fun adventures.

Here’s how…

I developed a system based on over 20 years of business experience plus an MBA from one of the top 20 business schools in the U.S.

My system is tailored to the overwhelmed mom who desires to be an entrepreneur. It involves:

Freeing up 5 to 9 hours per week to work on the key building blocks of creating your profitable home business

Creating a business budget based on reviewing your household budget and finding areas to cut expenses

Using free and low cost business tools to get you started

Developing a time management system where neither your kids nor your business are neglected

A month ago I had an ah ha moment!

What if I temporarily reduced my rates and even took on free clients?

Then I could help my current clients earn a minimum of $5K per month and help 10 new mom entrepreneurs to build their profitable home business based on my helping clients secure 40 to 80% increase in their annual revenue.

Aspiring Mompreneur and I just finished an amazing meeting about my business goals and plans. If you have not talked with Irene Rivkah Krasnoff about your entrepreneurial plans get in touch with her today! Janeane Davis, James Davis & Associates

Irene’s book is a comprehensive guide to starting your own business. She covers absolutely everything you will need to start a business and become successful. Her steps are actionable rather than pie in the sky dreams written by so many people who don’t truly understand the frustrations of parenthood and entrepreneurship. Pam Margolis, Diversity in Literature Specialist

Click here to start your business at a discount or partner with me. Or click the image below.

“Goals are implementation plans for making your dreams come true. Don’t be afraid to dream big and take action.”

Do you dream of creating your highly profitable home based business so that you can live the perfect life with your family?

Your perfect life could be financial freedom and total autonomy over what you do to earn money, including the freedom to set your schedule around your children.

Follow these 10 easy tips for moms, and you’ll be well on your way toward building your dream home based business empire. If you spend 15 to 30 minutes each day focused on your home based business, within a year you could be a business owner, or Mommy CEO.

Home Based Business Tip #1:Come up with best business ideas

If you have a business idea that you could make money with, you have already completed the most difficult task toward building your dream home based business.

If not, no worries. There are ways to creatively brainstorm your way into coming up with winning business ideas.

Start by asking your friends and family members what they think you’re good at. What do people typically come to you for help with? This is a pretty strong clue that what people turn to you for help with or advise on is your special talent that you can turn into a business.

Do you frequently get compliments about your arts and crafts? For example, if random people come up to you and ask “where did you purchase that gorgeous scarf?” it’s a pretty strong clue, that you should open your very own hand-made scarf home based business.

Need help coming up with business idea? Check out my free guide for finding your passion. You’ll gain amazing clarity.

Home Based Business Tip #2:Verify or Test Your Business Ideas

Google Search: Run a Google search using key words related to your business idea to gain insights into the level of interest in the products/ services you plan to create. See what forums come up. Check out websites of businesses similar to yours to see what they are offering, and how they sell and promote.

Visit Quora.com and reddit.com to see what questions people are asking. Note what discussions are taking place, and people’s comments. Feel free to respond to any questions and add your comments.

Write down the information you glean from your Google searches which you’ll use to create or refine your products/services.

Social Media: Facebook groups, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms are great places for observing which posts, tweets, pins, or images related to your business idea resonate with the people who are your potential customers/clients. In Facebook groups where your ideal customers hang out in, observe what conversations are taking place. What type of content resonants with members of these groups? What images do they like? What posts do they tend to comment on? What questions are they asking?

For additional information on how to validate your business idea, click here.

Home Based Business Tip #3:Create customized products/services

Go back to your market research and review the information you gathered. What problems or challenges did your ideal customers/clients express in the Facebook groups? What types of pins and tweets related to their problems resonated with your ideal customers? What questions did people have? What products/services are businesses similar to yours offering? Use all of this information to create your customized products/services. Make sure that your products/services include features that will solve your ideal customer’s problems/challenges. Get crystal clear on what benefits your products/services offer.

Home Based Business Tip #4:Beta test your new product/service

Beta test your new product or service with a small sample of your ideal customers/clients. Reach out in social media and ask your fans/followers if they would be interested in testing your products or services. You can either do this for free or charge a low fee. Check out this guide for details on how to beta test your product or service.

Home Based Business Tip #5:Market Your Products/Services

You have two options: traditional marketing and digital marketing.

Traditional Marketing: This is a broad form of marketing which includes ad space in print media, television, direct mail, and telephone. Most likely you will not go this route due to the expenses and the logistics of getting into print media and TV ads.

Digital Marketing: This includes every aspect of online marketing to connect with current and future customers: Google searches, social media, email marketing, and websites. Whether your business is online or offline, most likely you will end up using all 4 methods to market your products and services. Majority of your efforts will focus on social media and email marketing.

The purpose of digital marketing is to attract traffic to your websites, sales landing pages, and social media so that your ideal customers will connect with you and your home based business. You want your ideal customers to get to know you and your business. The best way to do this is to provide content that helps your ideal customers to solve a problem, that’s entertaining, and that provides food for thought and quick tips. Once they get to know you, they will most likely be inclined to opt-in to your free content so that you can build your email list and cultivate relationships with your ideal customers. Then they will be more likely to purchase from you.

Check out this guide for details on how to market your product or service.

Home-Based Business Tip #6:Promote Your Products/Services

Promote and sell your products and services via social media and email-marketing. This works for both tangible and digital products, along with services like consulting and coaching.

If you have a product or service that is ready to sell, begin the promotion process at least a month ahead of time. If you were consistently active in social media, by now a lot of your ideal customers will know your brand and who you are.

Blogging: During the month-long promotion period, if you have a business-related blog, be sure to post regularly with links to your offer, and pin your images in Pinterest.

Social Media Ads: Use Facebook ads as the primary vehicle to promote your products and services. Facebook ads have features that allow you to target your ads toward the right demographic profile of your ideal customers.

Webinars: Webinars are an excellent portal for selling your products or services. In your webinar, you will provide tips, the basic framework, or system, and other free information related to the product or service you’re selling via the webinar after presenting your free information.

Email Marketing: Make sure that you email your subscribers at least once per week if you are not in the middle of promoting your products and services. A month prior to promoting your products and services, create a sense of anticipation by announcing your upcoming product release. Once your product is released, email your subscribers with valuable information related to your product/service and then invite your subscribers to purchase your product/service for the full solution.

Offline Promotion: Attend local business meetings and networking events which you can find via Meetup. Try to get invited to speak at conferences and other events. Through talking to people, you will be able to spread the word about your business, get business on the spot, or obtain referrals. You can also leverage media and get featured in newspapers, magazines, and television.

Craigslist: Craigslist is a great place to promote your products and services. Go to the jobs section and find the appropriate section to post your ad

Home Based Business Tip #7:List what tools you need for your business

At a bare minimum, to start your business you’re going to need the following business tools:

Reliable desktop or laptop

Microsoft Office suite

Website – WordPress, Squarespace or Wix.com

Domain purchase & website hosting

Social media business accounts

Email service provider like MailChimp, Constant Contact, Get Response,etc.

PayPal business account

Business email account

Webinar platform (if you plan on doing webinars)

Google Drive

Project management software like Asana

Zoom or Skype for client meetings

Smartphone

Some of the above business tools are free. Others have a monthly cost. At a minimum, to cover expenses associated with essential business tools, you will need to budget $150/month, not counting Facebook ad expenses and other one time business expenses.

Home Based Business Tip #8:Create Your Monthly Business Budget

[ctt template=”1″ link=”WaHcR” via=”no” ]Any successful business requires a certain level of investment. The minimum you need to invest in your business is $120 per month provided you already have the essential items like a desktop or laptop, your website domain, and Microsoft Office suite.[/ctt]

Your level of investment is going to depend on the type of business you decide to launch.

As a new home based business owner, do not go crazy purchasing every tool because they are useful for taking your business to the next level. Start out by getting the essentials you need to launch your business. Then, as you start making profit, you can upgrade existing tools and/or purchase new tools to enhance your business.

Home Based Business Tip #9:If you have 8 to 5 job, create transition plan

If you’re currently working, it’s not a good idea to quit your job to start your home based business. Instead your business needs to be at a place where it’s generating steady income. At this point you are ready to transition out of your job. Decide how much savings you need before you quit your job. Estimate how long it will take you to achieve your savings goal. Then come up with a target date to submit your resignation letter. Every month monitor your expenses and your savings to see how close you are to your goals. [ctt template=”1″ link=”OdQnH” via=”no” ]Once you reach your savings goal, congratulations! You are ready to put in your 2 weeks notice to your employer and celebrate your new beginnings as CEO.[/ctt]

Home Based Business Tip #10:Work on your mindset

Starting a home based business is hard work. If you struggle with confidence and self-doubt, you don’t want that to hinder your success. The biggest barrier to moving forward in our businesses and achieving results is ourselves. Take time to document all your negative thoughts. Then spend an hour reviewing each thought. If it’s true, come up with an action plan to improve yourself. For example, if it’s true that you are not as productive as you could be, look at how you are spending your time, and make it a point to focus on income generating activities related to your business.

If your negative thoughts are false, write down affirmations which are opposite those thoughts and repeat them daily as the negative thoughts bombard your mind. Do this for 3 weeks and you will be amazed by your transformation!

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to comment and provide your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

If you are currently working full-time and would like to build your very own home based business, I have created the perfect PDF guide for you: “Start Your Business: A Step By Step Guide To Building The Business You Love and Finally Quitting Your 9 to 5.” For more information, click the image below

There is no shortage of moms who embrace the challenge of running a home-based business even with little ones at home. It’s like having two full time jobs.

There are days when things go smoothly. There are days when everything possible goes wrong. Your child is cranky and you feel overwhelmed by all the things you have to do.

So, why do some moms choose to become entrepreneurs?

Identity Is More Than Having The Title “Mom”

It is a wonderful gift to be a mom especially when 1 out of 8 women struggle with infertility. Motherhood is one of the most fulfilling yet challenging roles. It’s fun to cuddle with your baby. It’s fun to play games with your toddlers. It’s a wonderful experience not to have your child in daycare and be 100% responsible for taking care of your child during the daytime.

Yet a lot of women feel that there’s more to them than having the title “mom.” It’s about her individual interests. It’s about having a fulfilling career. It’s about striving for something that’s just for her.

For the entrepreneurial minded woman, besides her children, running her own business means the world to her. She sees no other viable options to earn money and feel fulfilled career-wise besides being the CEO of her own business.

Owning A Business Is About Giving Their Kids The Best In Life

Owning a business allows a mom to build the life that she wants for herself and her children, plus spouse, if she’s not a single parent. In the entrepreneurial mom’s mind, it’s about being present with her child plus providing them the best childhood via earning as much money as possible to give their children more that just food, clothing, and shelter. It’s about the ability to pay for music lessons, gym classes, fun adventures, travel, and more. It’s about enjoying life to the fullest with her family.

[ctt template=”1″ link=”MBWe6″ via=”no” ]Moms see the income potential through running a business as far exceeding anything a full-time job could possibly offer.[/ctt]

For a lot of moms, starting a business allows them to define success on their terms, and to find fulfillment not necessarily in a paycheck but in the realization of a dream.

It’s About Not Wanting Someone Else To Raise Her Children

The biggest reason why moms with babies and pre-school children choose to run businesses from their home – not having to pay for someone else to raise their children. It is emotionally challenging to be away from their children 50 to 60 hours per week.

Working outside the home means that by the time dinner is over, there’s only 1 hour of quality time left with your child before it’s bath time and then bed time. Before you know it, the next day brings the mad rush in the morning of getting out of the house to daycare or school, and then onward to work.

Aside from the lost time away from their children, it’s especially disconcerting when most of a mom’s paycheck goes toward covering daycare expenses.

It’s About Showing Your Kids What’s Possible

Through running successful income producing businesses while taking care of little ones, moms want to demonstrate to their children that it’s possible to follow your passions despite what others say. Plus for moms of daughters, it’s about setting an example of what women can achieve once they set their minds to it.

In the minds of entrepreneurial moms, there’s absolutely no limit. Women they can have it all….kids, a loving and supporting spouse, and a great career doing exactly what you love.

The Ability To Have A Flexible Work Schedule

Another reason why moms opt to start home-based businesses is for the freedom to set their very own work hours that makes the most sense for them and their children. They value flexibility These moms do not want to miss school programs and other precious milestones in their children’s lives. They do not want the pressure of having to ask their boss for time off to take care of a sick child.

It’s liberating to have the freedom to take a day off anytime, to spend time taking care of a sick child without worrying about what’s going on at the office, and when the school calls about a sick child, it’s simply getting in your car to pick up your child without the stress of alerting your boss.

Raising a child brings such joy beyond description. Every moment spent with a child builds happiness and a well-adjusted child. The legitimate need to make money just to cover basic needs results in a lot of moms settling for an 8 to 5 job. Often it involves settling for something that does not involve career fulfillment. These moms end up being doubly unhappy – missing out on the important moments of their child’s life plus a stressful and unfulfilling job.

The world of the internet has opened up all kinds of possibilities for anyone to start a home-business at zero to very little costs. This is what motivates moms to build businesses. By running a business that generates enough income to pay bills, or more than enough income for a higher quality of life, moms feel like they are with their children more. They are less stressed. Plus there’s the added benefit of feeling there’s greater purpose in life beyond motherhood – that of being her own boss and leveraging her God given skills and talents to create products and services that make a positive impact on customers or clients.

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to comment and provide your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

If you are currently working full-time and would like to build your very own business, I have created the perfect PDF guide for you: “Start Your Business: A Step By Step Guide To Building The Business You Love and Finally Quitting Your 9 to 5.”

Are you like some of my clients who say, “I’d love to start a business, but I don’t how to with very little money and time”

Or, do you already have a business and you are stuck on how to grow that business?

Step 1:Ask yourself: “Why do I want to start a business?”

If you already own a business ask yourself: “Why am I in business?”

Regardless of whether you’re starting a brand new business or already have one, make a list of all your reasons. Examples include:

I want to transform the lives of my ideal customers/clients

I want out of the 9 to 5 rat race

I want to spend more time with my little ones and control my work schedule

I want to solve business problem X. For example, your X could be “Help my clients win corporate business.”

I want to sell my freshly made sweet potato pies

I want to sell my jewelry

You get the picture.

Your “why for being in business” will help you get crystal clear on exactly what business challenges you desire to solve, and who to serve. It will also help you to validate that you truly have a market for your products/services, and that there are people who are interested in buying products from you or purchasing your consulting services.

Step 2: Validate Your Business Idea and Target Market

Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or an existing business owner, it’s always a good idea to validate your business idea and target market. Are you in the right market? Is there a large enough customer base for you to have a profitable business? Does your current or proposed products/services resonate with your ideal customer/client? Will they happily buy from you and feel that you met their needs?

Thanks to the Internet, you can conduct market research for free via Google and social media to answer the above questions. Facebook groups are great for conducting market research, as you can build relationships with your ideal customers and invite them to a free discovery session for you to learn about their business challenges and propose appropriate solutions, or to try out your product for free.

If you have a tangible product, Pinterest and Instagram are excellent platforms to showcase your products and learn what resonates with your ideal customers via the pins and photos that they like. If you are selling IT or other complex products, LinkedIn is a great way to connect and ask for a 30 minute free discovery session.

Step 3: Customize Your Products/Services

Take the market research that you did in step 2 and use the information to create products and services that will resonate with your ideal customers/clients, and get them excited about buying from you. This will increase the likelihood of your getting sales, and make you stand out from the competition. If you are engaged in actual conversations with your ideal customers/clients from connecting with them via social media, the information you glean is pure gold, as you are getting actual feedback about the products/services you are creating. You can tweak these products and services according to the feedback you get. This is how you will increase the likelihood of your ideal customers purchasing from you.

Now that you have a clear idea of the products or services you wish to offer, test them out in the market by offering a beta or test version. Limit the beta version to a few customers. Interact with your customers via Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangout, and get as much feedback as possible from them about their experiences with your beta-product. Did they like your product/service? Did your product/service solve their problem, for example, were your earrings the perfect match for their outfit, or did your guide to create Facebook ads help them make sales.

Now you’re ready to go to market full force.

Step 4: Create a Rock Solid Digital Marketing Plan

Whether you are selling products or services, make sure you have a rock solid digital marketing plan. Besides traditional marketing, which includes ad space in print media, television, direct mail, and telephone, use digital marketing to get yourself and your brand in front of your target customers/clients.

Digital Marketing: This includes every aspect of online marketing to connect with current and future customers/clients: Google searches, social media, email marketing, and websites. Whether your business is online or offline, most likely you will end up using all 4 methods to market your products and services. The majority of your efforts will focus on social media and email marketing.

The purpose of digital marketing is to attract traffic to your websites, sales landing pages, and social media so that your ideal customers/clients will connect with you and your business. You want your ideal customers/clients to get to know you and your business. The best way to do this is to provide content that helps your ideal customers/clients to solve a problem, that’s entertaining, and that provides food for thought and quick tips. Once they get to know and trust you, they will most likely be inclined to opt-in to your free content, view and like your product pins, take advantage of your discount coupons, and ultimately purchase from you.

If you are in the B2B or business to business space, leverage LinkedIn to build relationships with your prospective clients. Use LinkedIn Publishing to share relevant content. Send your leads valuable information related to their business challenges. Use Sales Navigator to keep up with the latest news or trends about your target companies and the relevant leads you saved. If any of your ideal customers are going to trade shows or conferences, reach out to them in advance and ask for a meeting.

You want to consistently provide relevant and valuable free content in the social media platforms your ideal customers/clients hang out in. This will lead to brand recognition, establish trust, and position you as the go-to expert.

Step 5: Create a Rock Solid Sales and Promotion Strategy

Use your rock solid reputation that you established in social media, including LinkedIn, to promote your products/services. Post your offers in your Facebook business pages, Facebook groups, Twitter, and via LinkedIn updates. Pin images related to your products and services and link to your sales page. Add images in your Instagram account, introduce your product, and share your link. Also promote your products via the other relevant social media platforms.

Social Media Ads: Use Facebook ads as the primary vehicle to promote your products and services. Facebook ads have features that allow you to target your ads toward the right demographic profile of your ideal customers. You can even target the ads toward specific interests, influencers your ideal customers follow, magazines your ideal customer reads, pages your ideal customers like, percentage of video view, and more.

If your ideal customers/clients hang out in Pinterest, Twitter, and are in LinkedIn, you can also use ads in these platforms to promote your products/services.

Email Marketing: Email your subscribers at least once per week if you are not in the middle of promoting your products and services.

A month prior to promoting your products and services, create a sense of anticipation by announcing your upcoming product release. If this is your first product, invite your subscribers to be beta-testers in exchange for receiving a discount. Email content related to your products and services. Share stories about how you got started creating your products and services. Share case studies and testimonials from people who used your products and services and obtained the results they were seeking.

Transitioning From a Job to Running Your Business: For those of you who are planning to build a business while working full-time, after you build your immensely successful business, begin creating your transition plan for seamlessly moving from your full-time job into your very own business without losing money.

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to comment and provide your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

If you are interested in building your very own business, I have created the perfect checklist for you which provides a list of daily activities that you can perform over a period of 30 days to create the basic foundation for a highly successful business.For more information, click the image below.

And if you need help to build your business, take advantage of my Sales Growth Program using 4 key principles for magnifying your sales by 3 to 10X through doubling your leads, customers, profit market, and repeat sales. For more information, click here.